The Joys of Homeownership

As I mentioned, I inheirted this house fully furnished and decorated. While a lot of crap has left the house, there are still disasters. The vanity and closet have never been stripped down 100% and restocked from the ground up - 50-70% maybe, but never 100%. And as a result, I’ve never really found the right places for everything, etc, etc - as is insanely evident from the photos behind the jump.

I’ve gone through several catalogues, and haven’t really seen anything that I like better than what I’ve got now as far as the basic design and setup are concerned. I will be planning a little field trip tomorrow to Expo and the mall to see what there is to see in these arenas. The “Style Tray” may not happen in this area given that I don’t hate it and haven’t seen anything that I must have instead.  The are just really needs some old-fashioned elbow grease.

Overall, I think this is an excellent place to get things started. It’s small enough to keep me from getting overwhelmed and flipping out, but should have enough impact to keep me going on to the next room.

Budget:
Closet light fixture: $200
New swing out mirror: $100
New drawer hardware: $50
New Light Switch Cover: $25
New Cupholder: $25 (used for curling irons)
New Wastebin: $25
Cleaning supplies: $25 (there will be a very thorough cleaning, I don’t think I’ll need anything special, but just in case)
Touchup Painting: $50
Oh Shit Factor: $50
Grand Total: $550
(Funny how every time I look at the pics again I find something else to add to the budget…)
The “before” is behind the jump.

I’ll admit right off the bat - I’m not really in love with the carpets, but they’re attached to the rest of the upstairs, so replacing them isn’t exactly in the cards at the moment - that’s a larger project for a little further down the road.

It’s a very basic vanity area. (The lights do work, but they were screwing up the camera.) I actually like the lighting cause it puts out some serious candlepower, but I’m not sure they would have been my first choice. The walls are a sponged yellow which I really like a lot. (It was actually the color I was going to use in my bedroom @ the townhouse, but was overcome by events…)

The shelving and baskets were a later addition to the area. I do like the baskets and fully intend on keeping them. (The shelves are actually *not* warped, the camera angle wasn’t quite right.) I do wonder what it would look like if it was a nice light wood instead of the white. The hardware on the drawers would be a nice and easy change. One of the shelves does need one of it’s corners re-secured.

This is your standard “we’ll call it a walk-in closet” that comes with your 4 bedroom colonial houses built in the 70s. The wire shelving was a later addition. I think with just some clearing out, this can become a much more usable area.

Obviously, there MUST be a better way to light the closet. It does put out enough light, but it’s ugly and stark. That definitely will be on the list of upgrades. Even just a simple cover would be a huge improvement.